The field of the disclosure relates generally to composite panels and, more particularly, to a method and system for improving the structural characteristics of corners of a composite component, specifically by replacing composite corners with brackets of a separate construction.
Weight is of paramount importance in at least some known aircraft systems. Even small or incremental reductions in weight can decrease specific fuel consumption (SFC), which in turn reduces the cost of operation of the aircraft. As such, there is a benefit to replacing heavier components, such as metal, with lighter alternatives, such as composites (e.g., fiber-reinforced polymers or ceramics). However, there may be additional machining or manufacturing difficulties that arise with composite materials. In components which require well-defined and/or well-formed corners, composite materials present manufacturing difficulties which include poor consolidation, ply orientation rotation, bunching, and wrinkling of the plies in the three-dimensional corner. In addition to the structural issues posed by machined three-dimensional composite corners, such manufacturing may take a great deal of time, which in turn may increase manufacturing costs. Accordingly, it would be desirable to have a system that improves the corner structure of a composite component.